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15 July 2012

Thanks to Team Obama's Reckless 'Felon' Accusations, Tony Rezko Issue NOW IN PLAY

How 'bout a little refresher re. Obama political Godfather

and actual (16-count!) convicted felon Tony Rezko...

The Syrian-born Rezko is an infamous Chicago slumlord, fast-food restauranteur, and sleazy political operator who played a key role in the Blagojevich case- as well as the unlikley ascension to power of Barrack Hussein Obama.Obama's longtime ally, friend, and top fundraiser was found guilty in 16/24 counts of felony influence peddling back in June 2008. Of course the story was mostly buried/detached from his bud Barry in the run-up to that year's most unfortunate (for us) presidential election whilst the jury convicted Rezko of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery (he was acquitted of attempted extortion). Prosecutors said Rezko squeezed various Illinois companies for some $7 million in kickbacks. In the dramatic trial, former state official Ali Ata told jurors he bought his post with bribes to Rezko and campaign contributions to Blagojevich. Ata was also one of several witnesses who said Rezko talked of a plot to kill the criminal probe against him by pulling strings with the White House to get U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald fired. Sadly for Rezko, he received the same amount of loyalty all allies who bring heat or no longer serve Obama's purposes get -i.e. Wright, Ayers, Farrakhan, Pfleger, Khalidi, and Blago- and was treated like yesterday's garbage, because to self-preserving narcissist Obama that's exactly he is.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama was the unnamed 'political candidate' referred to in the filing. This charge had accused Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments had to pay Big Ton' $250,000 in sham 'finder’s fees'. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama’s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate who acted as a straw donor, according to the court filings.

The relationship between Rezko and Obama goes back over 20 years, and is as labrylinthine as it is problematic. Tony Rezko raised in excess of $250,000 in contributions for Barack Obama's campaigns over the years, a number triple the amount Obama had publicly acknowleged prior to the trial. Tony Rezko was also appointed by Obama to serve on his U.S. Senate campaign finance committee, where he raised more than $14 million, according to Federal Election Commission records, helping send Obama to Washington in 2004. In return, Obama was a primary force in getting city and state money approved for Rezko to build and maintain 'affordable housing' in Obama’s district. Scandalously, many of Rezko's projects in Chicago are primarily known for being uninhabitible due to substandard work and a negligent maintenance. People froze in the winter, the plumbing leaks, and a 3 year old boy was even crushed to death by shoddy construction. For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in one of these government-subsidized apartment buildings on Chicago's South Side. It was just four years after the landlords -Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru- had 'rehabbed' the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

Parc Grove Plaza

While Rezko and Mahru couldn't seem to find money to get the heat back on, their company -Rezmar Corp- continued to receive city and state funding... even as earlier projects fell into disrepair and financial troubles. AND the same company somehow managed to make ongoing donations to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building.

In fact, eleven of Rezko's buildings were in Obama's state Senate district. In this diminutive area -where anyone could walk around and in one day get a basic knowlege of all major residential zones- Obama later claimed he was 'unaware' of the conditions at slumlord Rezko's projects- the very ones he had worked enthusiastically to fund with government subsidies(!).

Also deeply involved with Rezko was Valerie Jarrett, Obama's trusted friend and Senior White House Adviser. Judicial Watch -a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption- linked Jarrett to a series of real estate scandals, including projects operated by Rezko and Allison Davis, a former boss of Obama's. Housing projects developed and/or operated by Davis and Rezko have been manifestly substandard and beset with code violations. As CEO of The Habitat Company, Jarrett managed a controversial housing project located in Obama’s district called Grove Parc Plaza, which according to the Boston Globe was considered “uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale -a score so bad the buildings in question were simply demolished.After news reports revealed that Obama had personally engaged in a real estate transaction in 2005 with Tony Rezko’s wife Rita (at a time when Rezko was known to be under investigation) that got the movin'-on-up Obamas a huge South Side mansion then on the cusp of affordability for them, the young senator flippantly dismissed the episode as 'boneheaded' and 'a mistake.'

Initially, the owner of the home would not sell it to Obama because he didn't have enough money to buy both the house and the large lot next to it- and the seller insisted both had to be sold together. So, Obama bought the house, and Rezko the lot next door. Intriguingly, the house was sold $300k under the asking-price... while Mrs Rezko paid full price for the empty lot. Then the Rezkos simply sold Obama a 10 ft strip of their new property, making his remaining portion of this lot unbuildable. 'There’s no doubt I should have seen some red flags in terms of me purchasing a piece of property from him' Obama explained -once the press uncovered the deal, anyway. In the event, Obama in got a mansion worth twice what he paid for it, as in reality the otherwise unusuable neighboring parcel also became the Obama’s private property. And the real estate agent? None other than Patti Blagojevich- Hot Rod's wife. Powerful Chicago Alderman Richard Mell's daughter Patricia Blagojevich was, in-fact, a partner and real-estate agent for many of Rezko’s transactions that appear to be pay-for-play vehicles in Chicagoland political deals.... where she had made over $700,000 in commisions. Actually, one of the primary causes of Blago's desperation for money -as heard on the FBI's tapes- was the loss of family income from his wife's lucrative real-estate deals with Rezko, which evaporated once Tony was in Federal custody.

Those of us who waited-in-vain for the media to get off their fat asses and perform their implied Constitutional duty to properly vet candidates in 2008 have long given up hope that they'd hang-up their pom-poms and get to work. They were always more interested in discrediting or explaining-away red flags regarding The One's past than any effective form of scrutiny. Instead, they preferred to write stories about his puppy, how he likes to play basketball and listen to Ludacris, 'cool' neckties, etc. To them, the smoke eminating from Illinois politics was just another 'distraction' and our intentions are suspect if we ask to know the details. The MSM somehow don't feel the need to be concerned with Obama’s upbringing in the cauldron of Chicago Machine politics, and how such a nobody rose to State senator, US senator, and US president in just a few years with no tangible achievements while somehow assumed to be pure as the driven snow. Now watch Obama pardon Rezko in exchange for keeping his mouth shut- then we're full-circle back to The Chicago Way.

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